Indonesia deports 11 Taiwanese women

JAKARTA (JP): The immigration directorate general deported 11 Taiwanese women yesterday for violating immigration regulations by working illegally as karaoke guides, an official said.

Director of Immigration Control and Action Zaiman Nurmatias said the 11 women departed from the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on a Singapore Airlines plane.

"The deportation was conducted after the police handed over its authority to immigration officers," he said.

The women were Lin Su Chen, Wu Hui Mei, Liu Hsiu Huei, Hsu Su Fang, Yuan Jia Rung, Chen Shi Li, Chou Yu Hsiu, Kuo Lin Lin, Chen Chui Ping, Shen Chiu Yi and Tung Wen Chuan, according to Zaiman.

He said the women were arrested at three different places -- a boarding house on Jl. Pangeran Jayakarta in Central Jakarta and Mercure and Dusit Mangga Dua hotels in North Jakarta.

Based on their confessions to police officers, they came to Indonesia to work as karaoke guides at Raja Mas, Kiss Me and Hai Lai discotheques.

They entered Indonesia between June 11 and June 19 on visa- free facilities through the Soekarno-Hatta Airport, Zaiman said.

"Besides being karaoke guides, they were also believed to act as prostitutes as well. Therefore their visa-free facilities were immediately canceled and they were blacklisted," he said.

Shen Chiu Yi said she had previously entered Indonesia on Jan. 13 through the Soekarno-Hatta Airport. On June 19 she returned and worked as a karaoke guide with a monthly salary of about Rp 2.5 million (US$1,020), he said. (hhr)